In 2018, 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries signed the legally-binding Escazú Agreement, which sought to counter government and multinational corruption, exploitation of resources and violence against environmental activists in the region. Costa Rica and Chile had pioneered the agreement, the latter under former President Michelle Bachelet, even as, on home terrain, Mapuche activists seeking…
Tag: DICTATORSHIP
Brazil President slights indigenous rights
During his speech at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro was adamant that throughout his tenure, the country would be open to global investors. In a weak attempt at creating a semblance of balance between economic growth and environmental protection, Bolsonaro stated, ‘It is now our mission to make progress…
How relatives of Chile’s disappeared are exposing dictatorship-era torturers
The return of the right wing to power in Chile has come at the expense of those still seeking justice for crimes committed during the 17-year U.S.-backed dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, which ended in 1990. Former President Michelle Bachelet’s failure to close the luxury five-star prison of Punta Peuco that houses ex-torturers and military agents…
BOOK REVIEW: Ingrid Olderock. La Mujer de los Perros
“In this type of investigation, objectivity is non-existent.” Alejandro Solís Muñoz’s statement in his prologue to “Ingrid Olderock: la mujer de los perros” necessitates reflection. Objectivity, in the wrong hands, is a weapon of normalising violence and human rights violations. The end result would be normalising the dictatorship and its atrocities. It would also be…
In Chile, dismissing Mapuche resistance as terrorism
Saturday marked the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. In the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s futile rhetoric, “The interests of the indigenous people must be part of the new development agenda in order for it to succeed … Together, let us recognize and celebrate the valuable and distinctive identities of indigenous people around the…
Chile “There Is No Revolution Without Songs” Exploring the death of a revolutionary Chilean folk singer, as well as the notorious School of the Americas and the United States’ role in the horrors that befell those who opposed Chile’s dictatorship.
Sept. 11 marks the anniversary of a tragedy in Chile, and the immediate aftermath of this incident resulted in a multitude of horrific events that echo through history — even if they’re only starting to be acknowledged. Following the suspicious circumstances of former President Salvador Allende’s death at the presidential palace La Moneda on Sept….
How Israel dehumanises Palestinian resistance
There is a standard method by which the international community reacts to Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, depending on the visibility of the oppressive measures and whether they fit the pattern of previous condemnations. The result is a process of selective awareness, whereby the imprisonment of Palestinian children, home demolitions, settlement expansion and forced displacement…
Chile must not forget dictatorship era crimes
Chile remains a country of contradictions, influenced by the struggle between memory and forgetting. The dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet has left a legacy that has not been adequately challenged since the country’s return to democracy. Human rights and memory groups in Chile have struggled against state institutions and military secrecy over dictatorship crimes. They demand,…
The Legacy of the Nueva Canción: An Interview with Patricio Manns
Patricio Manns, Chilean poet, author, singer and songwriter is one of the few whose work is a testimony to history. Despite current trends and contemporary politics, which contribute a difference to ideology and culture, Manns remains committed to the universality of the Nueva Canción, and continues to be a revolutionary voice, recognizing the necessity of it…
A temporary suspension of exile: interview with former MIR militant Hugo Marchant
Chile’s supreme court of appeals has temporarily suspended the exile sentence imposed upon an ex-militant of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR). Hugo Marchant was detained in 1973 for distributing leaflets containing anti-Pinochet propaganda and later became a member of the (MIR) while in exile. Marchant entered Chile clandestinely in 1980 as part of a…
RAMONA WADI 